Historic Zoning Commission

Old North Knoxville H-1: Level II

2-B-20-HZ

Applicant Request

Level II. Major repair or replacement of materials or architectural elements

- Columns: replacement of two half-round porch columns with new 8" half-round fiberglass columns with "PermaCast Poly Cap and PermaTuff Base."

- Repair, and replacement in-kind in patches, of wood tongue-and-groove porch flooring

- Temporary removal and resetting of corner column to address flooring repair.

Site Info

One-and-one-half-story, frame residence with wood weatherboard wall covering. Hipped roof, clad in asphalt shingles, features lower cross-gables, sawtooth trim, and drop pendants. Windows are one-over-one, double-hung wood sash. Façade features a one-story, two-bay front porch with a hipped roo, supported by two half-round wood engaged pilasters with Ionic capitals and two round replacement wood columns. Façade features a cutaway bay with a sunburst motif in sawn wood trim. Two interior offset brick chimneys.

1. 1324 Grainger Avenue is a contributing resource to the Old North Knoxville H Overlay.

2. Repair and replacement in-kind of patches of wood tongue-and-groove flooring is appropriate within the guidelines and could be addressed via a Level 1 COA.

3. The porch features four columns: two full columns and two half columns set against the house's exterior walls. All four columns are wood. The two half columns are 8" in diameter and feature split, plaster decorative capitals. The half columns feature Scamozzi capitals, similar to Ionic style but with curved volutes. The full columns have rounded Doric-style capitals and are 8" in diameter. The full columns (and associated capitals and bases) are non-historic and were installed sometime in the late 1990s, replacing non-historic round columns on brick piers.

4. The applicant has submitted photographs depicting rot damage at the bases of half columns, at the capitals, and on the wood tongue-and-groove flooring beneath the columns. The original Ionic capitals have deteriorated and one photograph shows a capital broken in half.

5. Fiberglass (or fiber-reinforced polymer composite) columns have been approved in Old North Knoxville and Fourth & Gill in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The 2012 approval at 230 E. Oklahoma states that while no substitute material can adequately replicate the unique texture of wood, the "painted surface of a composite column is more difficult to discern from the painted surface of a new wood column," and new wood columns lack the patina of sanding, layers of paint, etc. The 2012 approval notes that "new wood or new composite columns would be equally devoid of texture and 'new' in appearance." The 2013 approval at 229. E. Scott (for columns on a new garage) notes that "fiberglass column, capitals, and bases do not significantly differ in appearance from that of wood."

6. The proposed replacement columns are PermaCast brand, round, 8" columns which match the diameter and overall design of the existing. The columns are compatible in size and scale with the existing. The proposed replacement capital and base are described by the manufacturer as a "Tuscan PermaTuff Base and Poly Cap." While the PermaTuff Base is simple in design and could be an appropriate replacement for the existing base, the Tuscan Poly Cap does not reflect the design of the house's original capitals. HB&G, the manufacturer, has multiple options for decorative capitals, including a Scamozzi capital which better matches the design of the existing.